Drowning
by tonsostuff
Summary: It is almost the 100th day since Percy was brought deep into the ocean by Polybotes to be tortured. It is his birthday. Percy doesn't think he can last much longer. Minor spoilers for the Son of Neptune. Two-shot.
1. Drowning

Authors' Note: Well, this is my first Percy Jackson fic, and what a depressing one it is as well. Being the sadistic reader, the moment I read the Son of Neptune, I thought, _Wouldn't it be interesting if Polybotes actually did end up torturing Percy under the sea?_

This is going to be part of a series of short stories called _Drowning_, which will focus on the darker possibilities of Percy Jackson in which things go very wrong. Despite the title of the series, the misfortunes are not just limited to Percy, though since I associate everything to do with Percy (yes, this includes the new series which I am honestly not that big of a fan of), it will have to be called that.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy. This contains spoilers for the Son of Neptune, though not any too major.

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson. I really wish I did. Sadly, that isn't going to happen any time soon.

* * *

He could barely remember his name.

_Percy_. A dim voice repeated inside his head. _My name is Percy. Jackson. Percy Jackson. I love Annabeth. Annabeth Chase. She's my girlfriend._

He couldn't remember what she looked like. Panic seared through Percy's mind. He couldn't remember what Annabeth looked like. He couldn't remember her hair color, or her smile, or her eyes...

Percy's ankle was shackled to a dead coral reef. He floated around 20 meters from the surface of the water. So close yet so far.

Suddenly, his muscles seized up. Percy tensed. He was coming.

A sudden jolt of pain coursed through Percy's veins. His mouth opened in a tortured scream as his body was filled with agony. His head was spinning. He was going to die.

The pain stopped abruptly and Percy sank to the coral reef bed with a groan. The dead coral scratched at his skin. A long time ago, the cuts would've healed almost immediately. Now his blood flowed freely around him. The aftereffects of the poison filled his lungs and Percy almost blacked out.

"Percy Jackson."

Percy opened his eyes for the first time that day and stared into the ugly face of Polybotes. The giant smiled.

"That was your birthday present."

The phrase took a moment to register in Percy's brain. Today was his birthday. The words left a horrible taste in Percy's mouth. It was his birthday.

The giant left, still wearing the same smirk. Percy winced as he tried to pick himself up from the coral reef before sinking back to it.

As soon as Polybotes was out of sight, sea nymphs surrounded him. _My lord_, they murmured. _You have __suffered._

The nymphs didn't look too well themselves. Their blue complexion had darkened and had become almost green. Almost like poison.

One of the sea nymphs drifted near the shackle and Percy's eyes widened. "Don't," he croaked.

A horrible scream filled Percy's ears as the nymph was incinerated. At the same time, another jolt burst through Percy's veins, almost like one of Zeus' lightning bolts. He didn't know how long had passed before he stopped screaming. By the time he could open his eyes again, the sea nymphs had all disappeared.

Percy looked up towards the surface of the ocean. He knew that Poseidon, his father, could not find him here. This part of the ocean was now ruled by Polybotes. Perhaps all of the ocean was now ruled by Polybotes—Percy didn't know. His only hope was that perhaps Poseidon would destroy Polybotes. Then, and only then, would Percy have a chance to survive. He had to hold onto that one hope—that Polybotes had not conquered the entire ocean yet and that his father was coming.

As much as Percy would like to believe that, he couldn't put his heart into it. He had been suffering and tortured for almost a hundred days now. Poseidon was nowhere to be seen and every day Percy drew one day closer to his demise.

He missed Manhattan. His missed his mother...though his memory of her was also fading fast. All he remembered was her name, Sally Jackson. The name brought warmth and gave him hope, though that soon disappeared. Percy didn't even know if she was alive. The same went for Annabeth. And...and...the satyr. Percy struggled to remember his name. Grover. Yes, Grover.

There was something to do with Grover that Percy had forgotten, though that wasn't exactly unexpected. He had forgotten most of his life and it had been replaced with torture. All he remembered were the basics. The names. The smiles. The warmth. But there was something with Grover...something that told Percy that he could use it to contact Grover…

Maybe Grover was dead as well.

Percy weakly raised himself from the coral and drifted upwards until he could drift no further. The shackle on his right ankle cut him, but Percy no longer noticed the pain. He knew he had a permanent scar.

He stared up at the sun, wondering what everyone was doing. Did they remember him? He barely remembered himself. Were they searching for him?

Or had they given up? Had they forgotten about him?

For a moment, Percy felt as if he would embrace death. Polybotes had told him once, "I will torture you under the sea. Every day the water will heal you, and every day I will bring you closer to death."

If, Percy thought, life was like a rope, anchoring him, then the rope must be so frayed that it would fall at a moment's notice.

Percy was drowning. Drowning in pain. Drowning in despair. Drowning in the memories that he could no longer recall.


	2. Choices

Author's Note: So I really wasn't planning to publish this as a two-shot but I feel really bad that I didn't mention it and it resulted in a lot of story alerts. So here you go. From now on, all of my short stories will be published individually with individual titles, though all under the _Drowning_ series.

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson.

* * *

He honestly couldn't see any way out of this.

His beard was a shocking white and his head covered with what little hair it had left. His face looked wrinkled and was a pale yellow.

Things were not good at all in Poseidon's realm. Things were not good anywhere.

Under the sea, Poseidon fought with Polybotes constantly, but there was little he could do. There were no heros in Poseidon's kingdom and a god could not destroy a giant by himself. Especially when the giant was born to oppose him.

The thought made Poseidon wince. He did not remember how many times the giant had spewed poison at him. The giant cared nothing for the ocean and right now, Poseidon did not have the strength nor the energy to heal it.

However, despite everything, Poseidon's greatest worry had nothing to do with the ocean.

Percy.

He'd been missing ever since Camp Jupiter had fallen. The thought left a hollow ache in Poseidon's chest. The operation had gone so very wrong. So many of the half-bloods had died. Even now, they still weren't sure where half of them were. And Percy...

He had faced off against Polybotes, but it had all gone wrong. Hades had assured Poseidon that Percy was not in the Underworld, though the thought didn't comfort Poseidon in the least. Percy not being dead was good, but every day Poseidon felt a certain jab and a certain shock. He couldn't be sure, but he feared that somewhere, wherever Percy was, something horrifying was happening.

The entire palace shook and Poseidon stood up. The tiles showed a monstrous blur approaching the palace. Poseidon rose wearily, knowing who it was. Every day, Polybotes arrogantly announced his arrival. He knew that Poseidon could not beat him. Poseidon knew it too.

"Father."

Poseidon's eyes widened. He could almost feel his heart stop...that is, if gods had a heart. In a flash, he appeared before Polybotes, trident in hand. This time however, he was not looking at the giant. He was looking at the figure next to him.

It was Percy.

His son's clothes were tattered and blood stained his arms. His ankles and wrists were shackled and chained to each other. Percy's head hung down and his hair was matted. As Percy weakly lifted his head to look at Poseidon, the god was shocked to see the hollowness and despair in his son's eyes.

"I'm sorry, Dad," he murmured through bloody lips.

"Now, now," Polybotes said, an arrogant and confident smirk on his lips, "what is there to be sorry about? You've survived a hundred days of torture! That is truly remarkable for such a fragile being as yourself! And..." Polybotes took a large meaty hand and twisted Percy's face towards him. Poseidon watched, frozen, as his son tried weakly to throw the giant off to no avail. "You get to see your father die! Why, what greater honor is there?"

It was a moment before Poseidon realized he was shaking. No one, but no one could treat his son like that. No one could use his son as a play toy, a piece of amusement. No one touched his son and got away with it.

"Now, now," Polybotes said soothingly, "how about we give a little show and tell? The kind of thing you humans have been doing in schools! To show your parents how well you've been doing in school! Don't you think Poseidon would enjoy a show like that?"

"Polybotes..." Poseidon's voice became a deep growl. He rose to his full height and his trident began glowing. "Release my son now."

"Oh, but the show's barely begun!" Polybotes laughed. His smile grew wider. "Now, let us begin! First of all..."

Polybotes squeezed Percy's arm and Percy cried as his arm was broken. He hung limply from the giant's hand. Poseidon pointed his trident at Polybotes, the tip so hot that steam began to be released from it.

The giant simply smiled. "You cannot defeat me, Poseidon," he said silkily. "You cannot even show your true form, lest you risk injuring your favorite son. And should you attack me with your trident..." Polybotes shook his head slightly in mock disapproval, "it would certainly not bode well for your son."

"Do it," Percy's voice was barely above a whisper. "Do it."

Polybotes turned to the boy. "Why, of course! I almost forgot! We haven't exactly," he squeezed Percy a little tighter, "really finished our demonstration yet, have we?"

Poseidon could not tell what Polybotes was doing, but suddenly, Percy was writhing in pain. His mouth was open in a silent scream and when Polybotes released him, Percy's knees caved and he crumbled. Poseidon moved forwards towards his son, but Polybotes waved him off.

"Back off," he said, his cold voice piercing through Poseidon, "or I will repeat the torture."

"Don't." Percy's voice weakly came through. "You can't risk it, Dad, you–"

The giant touched Percy's arm again and Percy cried out weakly. "Can't," he gasped, his eyes closed, "can't..."

Polybotes looked down at Percy, who lay in the sand, silent. "Oh dear me, I believe that he's on the verge of death." He turned to Poseidon with a look of mock horror, "Look at his father! Standing there! Watching his son crumple and die!"

Poseidon's anger whirled around him like a whirlpool. Up above, storms crashed and boats were overturned. His trident glowed so strongly that it almost looked white. "Release. My. Son."

"You cannot defeat me," Polybotes smirked. "The only hero you have at your disposal is this," he kicked Percy, "pitiful creature."

Poseidon had a choice, and somehow, Poseidon knew that no matter what he chose, it would haunt him forever. He was damned if he did and he was damned if he did not. Either way, the world would end.

"Choose," Polybotes smirked. "You have until three."

Poseidon looked at Percy helplessly. The boy lay motionless in the sand. It was only then that Poseidon noticed how many scars he bore.

_A hero's fate is always tragic._

"One."

Poseidon looked at his kingdom. He could not give up, lest he risk the lives of so many more. He knew what Percy wanted him to do. But he did not know if he could bring himself to do it—to kill Sally's son.

"Two."

Percy lifted his head weakly. He didn't speak, but Poseidon knew, somehow, the exact words he was saying. He could hear them clearly in his mind.

"_Don't. Whatever you do, don't."_

"Three."

The ocean roared, the waves crashed, and the sea clashed against itself in agony.

* * *

Author's Note: Aren't I such a nice person, leaving you all hanging like that? So, I'll make sure I say it this time. This was originally supposed to be a oneshot but since I felt horrible about not telling any of you this and making you click on the "Subscribe to Story" button, I added this to make it a two-shot. Now I'm feeling extremely sadistic but very pleased. I wasn't completely sure this would turn out the way I wanted, but I'm pretty satisfied.

Ok, now there's the "Review" button right down there. You can click it, though I won't force you. I'll be publishing more angsty stories, but all as oneshots. In case any of you care though, I'll be publishing an actual chapter story sometime in the next few weeks.

Thanks for reading!


	3. Author's Note: The Full Story

Author's Note:

I've already put up the first chapter of _Darkness Comes Before the Dawn_, the full story of _Drowning_. It takes place about two weeks after the second chapter, _Choices_.

Summary: Everything went wrong in the battle. What should've been a victory is a terrifying defeat. Now the demigods, both Roman and Greek, are on the run. Finally, a quest is issued to find the four missing demigods of the Great Prophecy, including Percy. It is a quest that is destined to go wrong. They say that darkness comes before the dawn. That's assuming you survive the dark.

Go and take a look.

~ tonsostuff


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